Will ISIS use chemical weapons against Israel or Israelis in Europe?

Could ISIS be planning to target Israelis with chemical weapons, especially as thousands of them will travel to Europe during Passover vacation in April, serving as convenient potential targets?

With ISIS desperate and on the run, is there a heightened danger that the group will use chemical weapons against Israel or against European targets, including Jews and Israeli tourists there? The Prime Minister’s Counter-Terrorism Bureau (LOTAR) warned over the weekend that ISIS might be plotting to carry out chemical attacks in Europe in the coming months.

LOTAR intends to issue a travel advisory to the tens of thousands of Israelis planning to vacation in Europe over Passover.

The bureau is particularly concerned with the possibility that, due to losses ISIS is sustaining in Iraq and Syria, foreign fighters there will return to their homes in Europe and carry out attacks along the lines of the truck attack in Berlin in December that killed 12 people, including Dalia Elyakim, a tourist from Herzliya, and wounded 56 others.

ISIS is believed to have access to chemical weapons that it has taken control of in Syria, Iraq, Libya and possibly elsewhere.

In addition to that scenario, experts have written for some time that ISIS might try to use chemical weapons against Israel or to get such weapons to its followers in Israel or the West Bank to carry out an attack.

Until now, ISIS has had a major tactical challenge in that it has been at war against almost every part of the world with an interest in Iraq and Syria, including many Sunnis and all Shi’ites, reducing whom it could attract to join its fight.

However, experts have pointed out that an attack on Israel could rally support from new corners in the Muslim world and blur the opposition of others to ISIS.